President's Essay: Working in Nations in Transition

China

The rise of China has an impact on all our programs: the environment, population, human rights, migration, peace and security. We think MacArthur needs to understand China through direct contact on the ground, and are considering opening an office in Beijing in 2009.

We have no illusions that our modest philanthropy will have an enormous impact in such a huge country. But we can both help and learn by building on our existing fields.

Our Peace and Security program currently funds six institutions in China working on arms control – including China’s two most prestigious universities, Peking and Tsinghua – and policy institutes such as the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies and the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. Through our new Asia Security Initiative, we will be adding as many as six additional institutions. This network, including institutions in fifteen nations across Asia, will seek a framework to strengthen international cooperation and prevent conflict in the region.

Since 2002, MacArthur has invested in building the capacity of the Gaoligongshan Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, an area of 43,000 square miles within our Himalaya biodiversity hotspot. We work with the Baoshan Management Bureau, the Kunming Institute of Botany, and the Kunming Institute of Zoology to preserve this repository of Southwest China’s natural heritage and plan for ecologically sensitive economic development.

MacArthur’s first conservation grants to China were made in 1991 to protect the forests of Yunnan Province.

Even though China is a repressive regime, there are openings for work on rule-of-law issues. The Chinese government is eager to improve the quality of justice in the countryside, where local government officials often disregard the rights of ordinary people in job discrimination and property disputes, among other issues. We are assisting the Tsinghua Law School to educate those who train “barefoot lawyers” for their work in rural areas. And we are exploring the possibility of a juvenile justice initiative in China. A delegation from the Supreme People’s Court will visit the Foundation to learn about its Juvenile Justice reform program in the United States.

While MacArthur pursues a non-confrontational strategy, we also give grants to both Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China, organizations that take on the cases of high-profile dissidents and tackle sensitive issues. Some foundations working in China have decided not to be involved with such groups. I understand that choice, but we have decided to take the risk. Time will tell whether we will be able to replicate our experience in Russia and Nigeria and sustain work in human rights as well as in our other areas.

The environment, better legal representation for the rural population, perhaps juvenile justice reform – these represent openings where MacArthur can help people here and now. Might these efforts contribute to a more democratic society in the future? Not any time soon is my best guess.
 
 

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